Dr. Hisham Khatib's collection was built over decades from a variety of auctions, rare book dealers and markets. The photographic portion of the collection (digitized and digitally archived by Akkasah) is composed of 2,534 photographic prints (both albumen and gelatin silver) and 1,629 postcards. The main focus is Palestine and the Holy Lands. The collection extends geographically to the wider region under the Ottoman Empire and has a secondary focus on Egypt and a tertiary focus on Syria, Lebanon and Iraq. There are a small number of images (under 10 per country) representing Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, India, Turkey and Yemen.

A great many images are of archaeological and holy sites in Palestine, in particular the Dome of the Rock [Qubbat Al-Sakhrah] and Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Church Of The Holy Sepulchre and Church of the Nativity as well as other significant mosques and mausoleums in Palestine, Syria and Egypt. There is also a focus on landscapes and to a lesser extent, some images that include people, though very few of these are portraits and many are in the Orientalist tradition of including locals for scale or demonstrations of customs or regional costume.

There are many images taken by prominent photographers/studios, including; Felix Bonfils, the American Colony, Hippolyte Arnoux, Abdullah Freres, Lehnert and Landrock, Zangaki Brothers and Frances Frith.

There are 16 photograph albums, the majority of which were put together by British people who had been on pilgrimages or tours of the Holy Lands or stationed in Palestine, Egypt or Iraq during the Second World War. Of note are the albums created by Les Wells (L. Wells) a serviceman in the British military as two further albums are available in the collections owned by Akkasah: https://specialcollections.library.nyu.edu/search/?utf8=%E2%9C%93&f%5Bformat_sim%5D%5B%5D=Archival+Collection&f%5Brepository_sim%5D%5B%5D=akkasah&per_page=50&q=L.+Wells. Within the postcard collection, the Shlomo Narinsky (Neroni) and Sonia Narinsky album is a rare collection.

All finding aids can be viewed at: https://specialcollections.library.nyu.edu/search/?utf8=%E2%9C%93&f%5Bformat_sim%5D%5B%5D=Archival+Collection&f%5Brepository_sim%5D%5B%5D=akkasah&per_page=50&q=Hisham+Khatib" show="new" actuate="onrequest">.